Combines are large self-propelled vehicles used for harvesting and threshing agricultural crop in a field. A combine operates by cutting or gathering crop standing in a field, and feeding the cut crop to a separator by means of a conveyor mechanism contained in a mechanism known as a feeder house. In the separator, grain is threshed, or beaten from the husk, stems, pods, or cobs, and then the threshed grain is separated from crop material other than grain. The cleaned grain is moved to a grain tank, and the crop material other than grain is generally distributed back out on the field behind the combine, or collected for use as animal feed or bedding.
The feeder house comprises a housing that is mounted to the front of the combine and from which the harvesting assembly is mounted. The interior of the feeder house is provided with a conveyor for conveying the harvested crop material upwardly and rearwardly into the separator mechanism. Typically, the conveyors have a plurality of continuous chains that are arranged to revolve around a transverse drum at the front of the feeder house and transverse sprocket means at the rear of the feeder house, with a device, some times referred to as a mid-floor, located between the drum and sprocket means to provide structural support for the chains in the area between the two mechanisms, the chains rotating generally in the direction of the length of the combine.
A surge in volume of crop material entering the feeder house from the harvesting mechanism can place a large amount of pressure on the conveyor chain assembly, forcing the chain against fixed portions of the feeder house, conveyor assembly, and/or mid-floor, resulting in increased friction on the chain, which can cause premature chain wear and loss of lubrication through heating and evacuation. Additionally, the pressure on the chain can slow down the conveyor system in order to accommodate processing the volume of crop material, resulting in an increase in drive torque. This change in processing speed causes additional wear on the chain and drive components, and can lead to inefficient processing of crop material. In some situations, if a large volume of material becomes lodged in the feeder house, the system can stall, necessitating the system be shut down and the excess material removed.
Therefore, what is needed is a system that reduces combine feeder house component wear and operation load without the need to reduce operating speed of the combine so that crop intake volume and crop processing efficiency are not reduced, without crop loss or feeder house plugs occurring.